May I show-off my new website, for those who know (and know of) me? Audio Note at The Audio Home..

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, everyone.

And, by the way, what are you doing, reading this forum instead of helping to get Thanksgiving dinner ready?

 

Unfortunately, we are getting the final details taken care of for my father in law's funeral. We have the service tomorrow. It has been lovely having all of the family come together from all locations, these last few days. So... sad yet happy as he isn't suffering anymore and it has been wonderful seeing some family members, including my younger daughter who came home from a semester abroad in Lyon France. On top of everything my cleaning lady broke the stylus on my Audio Note Io Gold MC cartridge. She has always been very careful and does a wonderful job, so you just mark it down as a 'life event'. I was just surprised how much I looked forward to playing some vinyl to help feel better after the loss of such a wonderful father in law.

On a happier note, to all of my American friends.... Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that it is wonderful.

 

Sorry to hear about your family's loss.

Regarding the stylus, though, unfortunately I cannot feel so strongly about it's loss, because I am so darn accustomed to hearing the same VERY sad story. SO MANY TIMES I hear about cleaning ladies breaking a stylus, that I have become numb about the topic. I think the dust that accumulates on a beautiful black turntable, is just too tempting for them to resist cleaning, and their cleaning cloth just happens to touch the stylus every time.

If you send it to me, I will try to convince Peter Q to give you a break on a new one, because your's can be rebuilt (it will take forever, though) and ultimately given to Steve, while I get the new one for you. I will use this explanation that it will help the SteveHoffman.tv community, and it will end-up benefiting Steve himself, too. I think this reasoning will work to get you a special consideration on the new one... or on some other AN cartridige, if you'd like.

 

Man I am sorry for your loss Don - Are you coming out to Hong Kong anytime soon? If so let me know the dates. November is a tough month for teachers as we have had to work three Saturdays and one Sunday this month. Good luck finding a Turkey here for thanksgiving - I'll have to settle for Pizza. I have a maid and she doesn't go near the stereo - if it gets dusty so be it!

 

Warren;

Thank you very much for your kind offer. My local dealer, Don Thorne at Soundhounds (Victoria, BC) has already taken care of me. He has a very good deal on a brand new Denon 103 for me and also a very lightly used AN-S2/H to let it shine in my system. Definitely not as good as the IoGold and AN-S8/L setup that I had, but as I will have to wait 4-5 months to get it rebuilt, this will hold me over nicely. My younger daughter finishes university in a year and I am going to give her the Denon 103 and the AN-S2/H as a graduation present. They will go very nicely on her Rega RP-1 (with Performance Pack), into her Rega integrated amp and out to her Epos M12 speakers. If I can find a nice clean OTO SE that is older and more affordable, I will get that for her as well. Then she will have an amazing little system. And the word Crossley is no where to be seen!

So, thank you - as that means a lot to me. If I didn't have such a good dealer (who is also a good personal friend), I would be very happy to take you up on your offer! You are the sort of dealer that everyone should have.

Don

 

Thank you Richard, it's been a tough 4 or 5 weeks. My mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease about 6 weeks ago. So, it really is nice to come home and play some music to settle the soul. All of this is just regular life stuff, but that doesn't make it easier to experience. I will say that it makes me appreciate how wonderfully my kids are doing in university and how they seem to be "on their way in life". It has been fantastic hearing from so many good family members and friends. In fact just tonight, some uncles flew in from all over Canada to come and surprise my mother in law and to support her through this tough time. It warms the heart.

I will be in Hong Kong on Monday night. Im at the same place as always, so if you are not too swamped, give me a shout. I may be back in December, but don't have that schedule yet.

Anyways, back to your regular programming! Stereo gear, vinyl, discussions on cables ; )

 

Warren do you stock Audionote silver tonearm (internal) wire? I've had this recommended to me but no idea where to get it (I live in the midwest). Oh and the site looks good!

 

Wow, a lightning fast response and a quote by the Hoff...thanks Steve!

I've got a spare (and rare) YSA-1 arm for my Yamaha GT-2000 table that sorely needs a rewire. The previous owner did an abominable (hideous!) hack job on it and it deserves far better.

 

In my experience, having met a few Audio Note dealers, we are all a truly committed, enthusiastic and helpful lot, compared to most non-AN dealers. I mean this very seriously. Peter Qvortrup keeps us a very close-knit and motivated-to-please clutch of happy birds.

(I don't mean "birds" in the British-english sense; just in a Warren's-english sense, singing with happiness to represent a great company).

 

Ha! I am only an hour slower than Steve.

I do not have it in stock, because they have too many types to choose from. I just carry some of their silver wire. But the AN factory has everything, ready to go, and I can get it within one week. Would you care to guess what diameter (or guage) you desire, what approximate length (we'll add extra just to be safe), and with or without AN cartridge connectors on one end?

Of course I can leave any or all of that for AN to decide, but you should figure-out and specify your required length and connector desire. The diameter, they can choose for you.

Oh, and what is the maximum price you could possibly think of spending. Think HIGH. We can stay within any budget you feel comfortable, but the more you can accept spending, the better choices you will have. I roughly estimate your raw tonearm wire will cost between $100 and $2000, with the silver choices starting at about $400, and the upper half of the range just ridiculous for anyone but "Russian oligarchs". I recommend buying the least expensive silver that is applicable for tonearm internal wire, and leave it at that. But for a not-so-audiophile tonearm, maybe just the least expensive copper will be plenty good enough.

 

Wow, thanks Warren! I am thinking bare wire on both ends and maybe some connectors for the final job. The original factory internal wiring was rather complex (24 individually coated strands to copper rod to 6 individually coated strands, per connector) and I might try to come up with my own braiding configuration. I guess the 0.05 mm would be a place to start.

 

Length?

 

Ah, by the meter, thanks!

 

I still need to know the approximate length that you will need. Even that may affect the per-meter price, because tonearm cable is not a price-catalog item.

 

Based on my calculation, five meters.

Actually if you could also quote me for 0.5 meters each of the AN-WIRE-300, 310, 320 & 330 that would be great. You can just pm me the prices if that's more convenient.

 

OK, got it.

-- I just asked AN for prices, so we will see how long it takes them to answer.

 

Warren, I would love to visit your Audio Home but that isn't likely since I live on the East Coast. However, I share your enthusiasm for Audio Note components. My only AN products are cables (Sogon and Vx interconnects, SPx speaker cables and Lexus and SPx for my internal speaker wiring), but I also have lots of AN Silver tantalum resistors in my electronics (Emotive Audio Vitas and Epifania).

I also really enjoyed your essay a few posts ago about music and equipment. You said more articulately some of the same general thoughts I have had. I see no reason to apologize for loving equipment as well as music.

I do want to add a cautionary note about biamping the B&W speakers. Based on my experiments over many years, I have found that with a well-balanced speaker it's important to use the same type of amplifier and the same type of speaker cables for both the high-pass and low-pass circuits. Otherwise you end up with a less coherent sound than is possible with a single amp (where this is feasible) or with biamping using the same type of amps and cables. In particular a tube amp on top and solid state on the bottom has always resulted for me in an unacceptable loss of coherency. On paper it seems like this would be the best of both worlds but in practice not so. A powerful solid state amp on the woofers can make a great first impression and the discontinuity caused by the different amps may escape notice. Over time though the discontinuity and incoherency can become quite annoying. I am sure you will try different combinations of amps and cables to get the best out of your B&Ws, but I wanted to highlight the coherency concerns with biamping.

 

I inquired with AN about tonearm wire. They don't want me, as a dealer, to handle parts/materials. Although I do sell complete cables, bulk cable is not within my range.

If you go to the www.audionote.co.uk website, Cables and Wires, the choices and prices are there. Then contact Hifi Collective in the UK for purchase.

 

Sent you a whatsapp message. I'll be out in Mong Kok near your hotel - they've released Sarah McLachlan on a triple 45rpm LP release remastered by Bernie Grundman along with some other albums from her. I'll see how late they are open so it may be possible to bring you around to the shops - you can get a lot of hard to find limited number Japanese pressing of LP and CD. Last time there I picked up a nice Wes Montgomery Boxed set. Just need the time to play all this stuff.

 

Hey Warren I was going to start a new thread but I may as well ask you and Steve about "level 3" - I see that the Jinro is level 3 but my question is more about the power amp versions - level 3 amps seem to include a LOT of diferent power amps at a lot of different prices.

Level 3 amps include

The Empress 2a3 parallel series of amps (7 watts)
The Jinro Sochu (power amp version of Jinro) 18 watts.
Onkoru II monoblocks (45 watts)
Conqueror 8 watt 300B
Paladin 45 (2watts)
Vindicator (3.5 watts) 2a3
Quest 300B (8 watts)
Conquest parallel 300b (18 watts)
P4 Balanced 300B power amps (16 watts)

And probably some I missed.

But I notice that for example the OnkaruII is more expensive than the Neiro which they list at level 4. I suspect the reason is that the it simply costs more to make a 211 amplifier than it does 300b or 2a3.

I have long looked at the Empress Silver but I've really only compared those to the Vindicator, Paladin and Quest. The dealer had the Onkoru II but by the next time I went back - poof sold.

Am I wrong in thinking that Onkoru is a lesser rich man's Gaku-On?

Which of these do you guys like the best. I think Steve prefers 300B to 2a3 but I do like the Empress over the Quest. Loved the Paladin but 2 watts even in my apartment won't quite cut it when playing AC/DC. If I had 103dB speakers though I actually think I like it the best out of the one's I've heard and the price is pretty nice too.

The Onkaru II is probably out of my budget but these are the mighty 211 so there is a drool factor - and no one seems to talk about this one much - even though it seems to be Andy Grove's darling.

Lastly do you know if the Empress come with balanced connections? Even as an optional extra? I have the M3 Phono Balanced now after all and I'm itching to use the connections. Onkoru II is balanced. hmmm

@Warren Jarrett

 

Wow - that's quite a few. Must be difficult to support so many different amps.

 

That's just level 3 and probably missing a few. Plus there are three versions of the Empress and probably three of the Quest.

And then there are high and low gain versions of each. I'm not even sure Warren will have heard all these. Just hoping someone can outline the differences between Empress, Conquest (or other parallel 300B) and Onkoru II.

The Empress has ton of balls though and I really liked that coming from 7 watts - they sounded more up front and powerful than the Quest which has a softer "over there" presentation. It depends what you listen to - the dealer in Hong Kong - both guys I deal with prefer the Empress - but the Conquest is parallel 300B - I find Parallel amplifiers have more control and seem bigger and bolder which definitely serves rock and roll better. The 211 seems to me to be in between. But the Onkoru is significantly more powerful than the Jinro and was wondering if it was level 3 Gaku-On like the Jinro is level 3 Ongaku??